Last Minute Disclosure of Lobbying for Softbank/Sprint Mega-Deal

The day before the $21.6 billion SoftBank Corp. purchase of a majority stake in Sprint is about to close, a lobbying firm finally registers itself and a lobbyist involved with the merger.

Polsinelli PCregisteredAnita Estell today to lobby for SoftBank Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of SoftBank Corp. That does not seem unusual until you consider that the merger of Softbank and Sprint is expected to close on Wednesday, July 10. However, the registration did say the effective date was June 1. Estell was to lobby on “education and outreach related to cellular service acquisition.” The registration indicated the Carmen Group contributed funding.

Polsinielli PC, formerly known as Polsinelli Shugart, was one of 10 honorees today in American Lawyer’s Global M&A Deal of the Year for its cross-border legal work on the SoftBank/Sprint merger. It must have been great work by a lobbyist for only five weeks effort.

Other lobbyists registered earlier. The Carmen Group registered to lobby for SoftBank Corporation, a Japanese media and telecommunications company, effective Oct. 22 of last year. They were hired to lobby on approvals needed for acquisition of 70 percent of Sprint by SoftBank. Lobbyists included David Carmen, John Ladd, Bill Signer and Alyssa Ewing.

The Carmen Group reported it was paid $420,000 for lobbying in the fourth quarter of 2013 and $210,000 for lobbying during the first quarter of 2013.

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